ANTI-ABORTION VIOLENCE CONDEMNED

MARGIE PETERSON, The Morning CallTHE MORNING CALL

Abortion has a history of causing more fights than friendships. So it was a rare event yesterday when representatives of several Protestant religions came together to support a series of statements that dealt with the explosive issue.

The stage was a news conference announcing the signing of a pastoral letter dealing with violence surrounding the abortion controversy. The authors of the letter -- two clergymen from the United Church of Christ -- assembled church leaders or their representatives at the Asa Packer Memorial Chapel at Lehigh University to voice their support for the document.

"The statement that we release today does not endorse any particular position on abortion," said the Rev. Lloyd Steffen, who co-wrote the letter with the Rev. Timothy Downs, pastor of St. John's United Church of Christ in Allentown. "For no one perspective on abortion can be said fairly to encompass the diversity of faithful Christian responses to the abortion question."

Downs and Steffen, Lehigh University chaplain, garnered signatures from regional leaders of seven Protestant denominations for the letter, which urges all sides of the abortion debate to eschew violence when acting on their beliefs.

Last March a doctor who performed abortions was killed by an abortion protester outside a clinic in Florida. In September a Planned Parenthood clinic in Lancaster was firebombed, and last week there was an apparent attempt to set fire to an abortion clinic in York.

"Deploring violence must be a bond of unity between us," Steffen said.

Absent from the list of signers was Bishop Thomas Welsh of the Allentown Diocese. The authors said they contacted the diocese about the letter but Welsh did not sign.

Welsh was away yesterday and unavailable for comment. Monsignor Stephen Forish, pro-life coordinator for the diocese, said he thought Welsh's objections to the letter were in what it didn't say.

"What the bishop said in effect was it is unthinkable to address violence in the context of abortion without talking about the violence of abortion," said Forish. "There's violence happening in that clinic every day. That statement that was issued doesn't even touch that."

Last March when Dr. David Gunn was killed outside a Florida clinic during an anti-abortion demonstration, Welsh condemned the slaying, saying it was "contrary to what the pro-life movement is all about."

"The unwarranted and senseless slaughter of abortion should never be compounded by the taking of other innocent life," Welsh said then.

By ignoring the violence of abortion, the authors of the pastoral letter were avoiding the core issue, Forish said.

"I think the bishop's reticence is based on this other group's refusal to deal with that," he said.

Asked if the absence of Welsh's signature might give the appearance that the letter is a product of abortion rights supporters, Steffen said the letter plainly takes no stand on abortion.

"At some point we have to trust the language of the document," said Steffen. "And the document that people are signing today is as clear as I think we could write it. It is a statement about violence and not about a particular stance on the abortion issue."

Some of the denominations represented at the news conference have adopted an abortion-rights stand. Other churches are deeply divided over the issue.

"I need to tell you that there's no consensus in my denomination over abortion," said the Rev. T. Scott Allen of the Episcopal Church, Diocese of Bethlehem. But the letter is about the need to conduct the debate over the issue non-violently, he said.

"Violence only breeds violence," Allen said.

"The pastoral letter regarding violence is a pro-life statement which is not limited to the abortion issue itself," said the Rev. Robert W. Bouder, senior pastor at the First Baptist Church in Bethlehem. "I think this is consistent with the teachings of Christ when he said, 'Blessed are the peacemakers.'"

"We are not only concerned about the acts of violence but we are, as people of the word, very concerned about the rhetoric that leads to acts of violence," said Donald E. Overlock, conference minister, Penn Northeast Conference, United Church of Christ.

Downs and Steffen said lack of time prevented them from seeking the signatures of leaders of such churches as the Greek Orthodox, which has hierarchy that covers a large region.

But they said they would welcome leaders from other churches who want to sign.

In this season of growing violence around the issue of abortion, we wish to address this pastoral letter to all citizens of good will. We who are Christian affirm that there is no one view which represents the entire faith community on the issue of abortion. Instead, there is a diversity of convictions even among well-meaning and sincere people on these deeply felt issues.

This letter, however, is neither about abortion nor the debate which surrounds it. It is instead about the issue of how reasonable and faithful people join discussions and debates about their convictions. We respect people of conscience who resort to civil disobedience as an expression of their conscience so long as such disobedience is non-violent. At the same time we believe as Christians that it is wrong to resort to violence or acts which threaten the lives, personal safety, or dignity of others.

It is not our wish to still the debate concerning abortion. Our wish, rather, is to find non-violent ways for Christians and other people of conscience to engage in civil conversation, debate, and discourse as they seek to persuade one another of the truth of their convictions. In a democratic and pluralistic society we believe that persuasion rather than coercion, and witness rather than threatening others, are the appropriate and faithful recourse where there are differences of opinion.

We earnestly hope that this letter is not the end of a conversation but the beginning of a dialogue between good people of faith willing, candidly and openly, to share their convictions. By signing this letter we affirm the contents and ideals expressed herein and continue our support of the ideal of non-violence.